INTRODUCTION
Among the modern schools of
philosophy idealism is perhaps the oldest one and began with the dawn of
civilization. When man could systematize his ideas. But as a branch of
philosophy it began with Socrates in the western part of the world.
Idealism contents that the material
and physical universe known to science is an incomplete expression of Reality,
that it exists but to sub serve and requires to complement it a higher type of reality
a spiritual universe”.
MEANING
OF IDEALISM:
Idealism is born our of Plato’s
“Theory of Ideals”. According to this doctrine the ultimate supremacy is of
ideas. In this way, the real word is “idea ism” but adding the letter “I” for
pronounciation facility it is known as Idealism. Harne has rightly remarked
“An Idealistic philosophy of
education then, is an account of man finding himself as an integral part of a
universe of mind”.
DEFINITION
OF IDEALISM:
·
Idealism holds that ultimate
reality is spiritualism-D.M. Dutta
·
Idealistic philosophy takes
many and varied forms but the postulate underlying all this is that mind or
spirit is the essential world stuff, that
the true reality is of a mental
character – J.S.Ross
FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF IDEALISM
1. TWO
FORMS OF THE WHOLE WORLD:
Idealism believes in two forms of
the world (1)spiritual world (2)material world, Idealism give more importance
to spiritual world in comparison to the material world. They believe that
spiritual world is real and the ultimate truth whereas the material world is
transitory and moral.
According to
Horne,
“Idealism holds
that the order of the world is due to the manifestation in space and time of an
eternal and spiritual reality”.
2. IDEALS
ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OBJECTS:
According to the idealistics,
knowledge of mind and soul can be obtained through ideas only.
According to
Plato,
“Ideas are of
the ultimate cosmic significance, They are rather the essences or archetypes
which give form to cosmos. These ideas are eternal and unchanging”.
3.
IMPORTANCE OF MAN OVER NATURE:
To Idealistics man is more important
than material nature. It is because man can think and experience about material
objects and material phenomena.
According to
R.R.Rusk,
“The Spiritual
or cultural environment is an environment of man’s own making, it is a product
of man’s creative activity?”
4. FAITH
IN SPIRITUAL VALUES:
The prime aim of life is to achieve
spiritual values. They are truth, beauty and goodness. These Spiritual values
are undying and permanent.
According to
J.S. Ross,
“Goodness, truth
and beauty are seen to be absolutes each existing in its own right and entirely
desirable in reality”.
5.
IMPORTANCE OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT:
Idealists give much importance to
the “Self” of the individual. Hence, they insist upon the fullest development
of the personality of an Individual.
According to
J.S.Ross,
“The worth of
human life at its best are emphasized by Idealism human personality is of
supreme value and constitutes the noblest work of God”.
6. FULL
SUPPORT TO THE PRINCIPLE OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY:
They give full support to the
principle of unity in diversity. They believe that implicit in all the
diversities is an essential unity. This implicit unifying factor is of spiritual
nature. This may be called universal consciousness or Divinity. According to
Prof. H.N.Horne “An Idealistic philosophy of education, then is an account of
man finding himself as an integral part of universe mind”.
IDEALISM IN EDUCATION
The most important invention of
mankind. Man without education would be living just like an animal. Idealistic
system of education helps man to “seek the truth and avoid error, enjoy the
beauty and discard ugliness espouse the good and deprecate evil”.
Man must learn how to suppress and
conquer desires with the help of strong will power. He can develop this power
through education. To realize the ultimate goal of life “education has to feed
to conscience by nurturing it in the desired education”.
IDEALISM AND AIMS OF EDUCATION
1. SELF-REALIZATION
OR EXHALTATION OF PERSONLITY
According to Idealism man is the
most beautiful creation of God. Hence, the advocates of Idealism lay great
stress on the exhaltation of human personality. By exhaltation of human
personality, the mean self-realization. Self-realization involves full
knowledge of the Self. According to J.S.Ross, “The aim of education specially
associated with Idealism is the exhaltation of personality or self-realization
the making actual or real the highest potentialities of the self”.
2. TO
ENSURE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT:
Idealists give greater importance to
spiritual values in comparison with material attainments. According to Rusk.
“Education must enable mankind through its culture to enter more and more fully
into the spiritual realm, and also enlarge the boundaries of spiritual realm”.
3. TO
CULTIVATE TRUTH, BEAUTY AND GOODNESS:
Idealists assert that to develop
spiritual values in the individuals, pursuit of highest ideals namely- Truth,
Beauty and Goodness should be encouraged more and more. The more an individual
realizes these ideals, the more spiritually developed he will become. Hence,
education should strive its utmost in developing the child morally and
spiritually so that he achieves self-realization.
4.
CONSERVATION, PROMOTION AND TRANSMISSION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE:
Man is the only being endowed with a
keen and penetrating intellect, intelligence and an enormous capacity of
assimilating knowledge if the world. Man’s achievement in the realm of science,
art and culture are of great intrinsic value. His creativity is dynamic and
working Since the very early times This cultural treasure belongs to the whole
humanity and it is the purpose of education to preserve develop and transmit it
in all corners of the world The forth aim of education according to Idealism is
to acquaint the child with the cultural heritage so that he conserves, promotes
and transmits ir to the rising generation.
5.
CONVERATION OF INBORN NATURE INTO SPIRITUAL NATURE:
Idealists hold the view that the
inborn instincts and inherent tendencies of the child should be sublimited into
spiritual qualities and values. This is real development of the individuality.
6.
PREPARATION FOR A HOLY LIFE:
Idealists uphold that education
should create such condition and provide an environment which is conductive to
the development of spiritual values in a child. Froebel rightly marks-“The
objects of education is the realization of a faithful pure, inviolable and
hence holy life”.
5.
DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE AND RATIONALITY:
The world is planned and well
organized. Man can understand the purpose as well as the plan and organization.
According to Froebel- “In all things there reigns an eternal law this all
pervading energetic, self-conscious and hence eternal unity. This unity is God
education should lead and guide man to face with nature and to unity with God”.
IDEALISM
AND CURRICULUM
While structuring curriculum
idealists give more importance to thoughts, feelings, ideals and values that to
the child and his activities, they firmly hold that curriculum should be concerned
with the whole humanity and its expressions. These experiences van be imbibed
by two ways namely (1) from the physical environment
(2) From
contacts with other fellowmen.
VIEWS
OF PLATO ABOUT CURRICULUM
Activities of man
VIEWS OF HERBART ABOUT
CURRICULUM:
According to Herbart Aims of education is the promotion of moral
values. Hence he gave prime importance to subjects like Literature, History,
Art, music, poetry, together with other humanities and Secondary place to
scientific subjects.
VIEWS OF
NUNN ABOUT CURRICULUM:
Nunn emphatically advocates the
inclusion in the curriculum
Activities
of man
VIEWS OF
ROSS ABOUT CURRICULUM:
Ross has divided
into two Categories
Activities of man
IDEALISM
AND METHODS OF TEACHING
There is no specific method for
teaching. Socrates used Question-Answer Method, Plato emphasized Discourse
Method, Aristotle advocate Inductive-Deductive method, Herbert advocated Inst ruction
Method. Butler
IDEALISM
AND TEACHER
In the realm of Idealism, the role
of teacher is very important and glorious. Idealistic philosophy believes that
this planned creation has two parts. (1) The teacher
(2)The child as
student. The development of the
individual child in a spiritual way. In reality an Idealist teacher is
imbusedfully with higher degree of self-knowledge self-dynamism and essential
Qualities of spiritualism.
IDEALISM
AND DISCIPLINE
Idealism believes that there can be
no spiritual development of the child without discipline. Idealism emphasizes
sympathetic control on the undesirable activities of the child whereas on the
other hand, it grants regulated liberty for his spiritual development.
IDEALISM
AND SCHOOL
School is a place where the
capacities of logical thinking, reasoning and evaluating of the child are
progressively sublimited and developed by teachers and the school environment
into desirable channels so that high spiritual ideas and values are gained.
Idealists consider school and its impressionistic environment as greatly
essential.
DEMERITS
OF IDEALISM:
- The common criticism regarding idealism is that it is an abstract & vague doctrine. It avoids the realities.
- Idealism is concerned with the ultimate end of life. It avoids the real problems in day to day living.
- Idealism lays more emphasis on thinking and mental activities. This increases the importance of Intellectualism unnecessarily.
- Idealism emphasizes upon the achievement of immortal values namely, Truth, Beauty and Goodness. These values are not absolute.
- Idealistic education gives more importance to teacher in relation to the child.
- An idealistic method of teaching emphasizes cramming and rote memory.
- In Idealistic education humanities are given greater importance for the spiritual development of the child while the present age of science lays great stress upon scientific subjects in the curriculum.
MERITS OF
IDEALISM:
- Idealism has made signal contribution.
- Idealistic education promotes universal education.
- Idealistic education emphasizes the inculcation of highest values namely, Truth, Beauty and Goodness. This will lead to the development of a moral character of the child.
- The teacher is assigned a very important role.
- Idealism leads to the development of the ‘self’ of an Individual.
- Idealism respects the individuality of the child and tries to stimulate his creative energies.
- Because of the idealistic philosophy and education the school has grown into an important social organization.
CONCLUSION:
Animals have no religion or
morality; they do not write scriptures and cultures. They have neither any
channel of education nor codes of conduct. They are not troubled as man is by
the problem of what to do about sin and evil, about crime and corruption.
They are born
with instincts which take care of all their problems. But man is not born with
such instincts which will solve the problems of his life. He is the best
creation of God and his life has two aspects-one biological, which he inherits,
and the other sociological or cultural which he acquires. I f he acquires
‘ideal education’, he becomes humanized and learns to live and act like a
normal human. Wrong education make him a savage, intellectual but brutal.
Idealism advocates lofty ideals and noble virtues in education the only
potential force to work as a panacca for all the ills in our society
0 comments:
Post a Comment